“NO COLLUSION!” Donald Trump tweeted Monday morning, shortly after former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his former longtime business associate Rick Gates were indicted on 12 counts, including conspiracy and money laundering, and turned themselves in to the F.B.I. But the president may have spoken too soon: just hours later, the Justice Department unsealed court records revealing that Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos had repeatedly contacted individuals tied to the Russian government in an attempt to broker a meeting with Kremlin officials, in what is the clearest evidence yet of efforts by a member of Trump’s team to coordinate with a foreign government to derail Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to F.B.I. investigators during a January 2017 interview about meetings he had with a professor with ties to the Russian government in early 2016. At the time, Papadopoulos characterized the April 2016 meeting with the professor as “a nothing” and “just a guy talk[ing] up connections or something,” but acknowledged that the individual told him about “dirt” on Clinton and the existence of “thousands of e-mails” that could hurt her candidacy. (Clinton campaign chair John Podesta’s e-mails were hacked by the Russians in March.) But after his arrest at the Dulles International Airport on July 27, 2017, Papadopoulos made a series of damning admissions to Mueller’s investigators about the meeting and subsequent Russian contacts. On October 5, he pleaded guilty to making false statements to the F.B.I.

Papadopoulos made multiple attempts to leverage the professor's connections to the Kremlin in order to set up a meeting between Russian officials and the Trump campaign, according to the plea bargain. The document outlines a series of communications between Papadopoulos, the professor, other individuals with alleged ties to the Russian government, and other members of the Trump campaign. For instance, at a “national-security meeting” at the end of March 2016 that included Trump and other foreign-policy advisers, Papadopoulos told investigators that he played up his Russian connections (one of whom he described as "Putin's niece"), saying he could potentially set up a meeting between the then-candidate and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Following the meeting, he exchanged a series of e-mails wherein the professor wrote, “As mentioned we are all very excited by the possibility of a good relationship with Mr. Trump. The Russian federation would love to welcome him once his candidature would be officially announced.”

The professor reportedly informed Papadopoulos of said “dirt” on Clinton at a breakfast meeting at a London hotel in April. Thereafter, Papadopoulos continued to e-mail other members of the Trump campaign—their identities are not known, but they are referred to as “Campaign Supervisor” and “High-Ranking Campaign Official” in the plea bargain—about arranging a meeting between members of the Russian government and top Trump officials. Papadopoulos reached out to the High-Ranking Campaign Official at the end of April 2016, “to discuss Russia’s interest in hosting Mr. Trump. Have been receiving a lot of calls over the last month about Putin wanting to host him and the team when the time is right.” In August, the Campaign Supervisor told Papadopoulos that “I would encourage you” and another member of the foreign policy team to “make the trip” to meet the Russians “if feasible.” (The meeting never took place.)

When asked about Papadopoulos’s plea bargain during Monday’s daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “It has nothing to do with the activities of the campaign. It has to do with his failure to tell the truth.” She added that Papadopoulos’s role was “extremely limited” and a “volunteer position.” And in reference to Papadopoulos’s outreach to other members of the campaign as outlined in the court documents, Sanders said, “He reached out and nothing happened beyond that,” which she added was indicative of “his level of importance in the campaign” and “shows what little role he had in coordinating anything officially for the campaign.”

It is unclear from the unsealed plea bargain, save for a few exchanges, how Trump campaign officials responded to Papadopoulos’s repeated overtures. But The Washington Postreported in August that Gates and Manafort either received or were aware of Papadopoulos’s attempts. According to the plea bargain, Papadopoulos was charged on July 28, two days after Mueller’s team carried out a search warrant and raided Manafort’s Virginia home. Papadopoulos also indicated that he was willing to cooperate with Mueller and the F.B.I.—according to documents, after his arrest he "met with the Government on numerous occasions to provide information and answer questions."